Question

When I consider the practice situation in which I was the most concerned about issues related to the social determinants of health, what did I think? What did I believe? How did I act? What might that situation have been like for the individual patient/client, family members or group I was working with?

Answer 1

Social determinants of health are factors that are responsible for occurrence of many diseases like diabetes, asthma, mal nutrition, infectious disease and other disease. There are many factors which affects the individual life. They are: gender, education, environment, crime rate, and availability of transport, income, food insecurity, social support and many other factors. Many of the social factors have been causing health disparities among people and equal access of healthcare.

Concerned factors on social determinants of health: there are factors that affect on people and leads to inequality of care and inaccessible care to people. When people asking about history try to avoid asking about social factors. Today, health providers are finding to difficult to provide care and tend to avoid social factors and focus on education on life style changes and treatment of factors. Health care system are trying to focus equality of care and concentrate on social factors

The disease that are affecting the people who live in a low socioeconomic area, getting insufficient funds, illiterate, difficulty in understanding language, their critical working environment such as smoke. This makes them to get disease and make their life short.

       Educating the life style modification will not be possible until their social factor is addressed. Environmental factors such as availability of fast foods, non availability of fresh foods, fruit and vegetables, availability of tobacco. Most important factors are children are often victims who cannot go to school, send to occupation, and get punishment from people who are drug addicts, mentally ill. Children in lower socioeconomic tend to get drug addict and involve in violence and was send to prison

               The client can be asked regarding his social factors that may impact on his health in a respect and empathetic manner and cultural oriented manner. This approach will results better diagnosis and better care. After identifying factors, refer the patient to special groups in their community such as housing advocacy organization, local women’s group, and employment agencies. Health providers acts as advocate for patient and write a referral letter to avail services from program, groups. Many benefits has been provided according to needs of the clients such as child and family , tax credits, low-cost care, school readiness programs, nutrition support program, parenting classes

Action on Practice situation: The components of health care are inequality responsive care, trauma –violence information care, contextually tailored care, and culturally competent care. Inequality responsive care may be addressed by providing equal and accessible to care to the patient. Providing bus services make them to reach centre to receive care like taking appointments, preferences language, finding the language skill of practitioners, providing interprets for better understanding language, extend the clinical working hours and make the clinic available nearby home.

                Health care provider tries to make a partnership with community groups, local leaders and public health in order to provide benefit to patients and community by arranging employment, education. community and clinical health relationship has been built that make multi stake holder and community collaborative measures has been developed in order to provide better care such as low cost care, education opportunities, developing green parks and green area in the community, banning soda machine, imposing taxing on cigarettes,   providing lanes for bicycle riders, creating food markets. Health care provider can built relationship local leaders and make a financial assistance to patient and shelter homeless people, arranging mobile markets